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Have a great Canada Day tomorrow, and stay tuned for a giveaway!!!

Three Dresses

I have been working on these here and there, whenever I had a moment in my rather busy life.

Last week I had to have a D & C so I've been taking some time to just recover, but I was quite excited about these dresses--I absolutely love the fabric! (They're all from the Fat Quarter Shop.) So, I had to get them done.

 

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The first one, is the Little Geranium Dress. The fabric is from Ann Kelle's, Girlfriends line, here and here.

I used snaps for the buttons so there would not be anything too thick to make it uncomfortable for baby.

It's a pretty quick, easy sew with no exposed seams in the inside!

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And, the last two are both the Maggie Mae Tunic and Dress pattern from Shwin Designs.

 

 

The grey fabric is absolutely adorable--I think I need to buy some greys for my stash! This one specifically. Although, it is no longer available from the Fat Quarter Shop--it is from Aneela Hoey for Moda, Walk in the Woods. The white fabric is from Riley Blake Design available here.

These are both in size 6-9 months in dress length.

 

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The closures is the only thing I disliked or was 'afraid to attempt' about this pattern. That top piece has between 8-10 layers of fabric in there, and to do a button hole through that seemed a little sketchy. So, I hand-sewed a sew-in snap with a pretty button on top to hide the stitching. And, I only put one snap on each dress--I didn't have enough of these buttons to hide another but I think it'll work fine with just the one!

 

The white fabric for the second one is the same as above and the pink is no longer available, but blue and green are here.

 

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It was a fun challenge, squeezing two dresses out of these fabrics--I actually had to piece one of the bodice linings together to make it. It's definitely a treat working with some super cute fabric though!

 

Now, I should work on some gift sewing--two of my friends have had babies...

Any good ideas for boys? 

 



Some Baby Boy Sewing for Pregnancy Care Centres

I've been doing some more sewing.

Two Baby Boy Button-Ups and another Basic Baby Pant.

The fabric was sent our way from the Fat Quarter Shop--thank-you!!

And, the buttons I got at Fabricland where they had a buy one box of buttons, get 3 free. I bought 2 boxes and got 6 free. I like that kind of shopping!

 

The Sesame Street fabric is available here and here.

And, I can't find the train fabric and the piece I have has no slevedge that has info on it.

(If you know what line it is from, let me know!)

 



 

The above one is a set, obviously.

The bottom one, I still want to sew up some pants for, I think. It'd look good over a cute little pair of jeans but I don't think I can whip those up.

 

 

I loved the tags the fabric lended itself to:

 

The bottom tag is one of the trains cut out.

 



 

 But, I should get sewing again.

I'm working on a Little Geranium Dress now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Sweet Little Dresses

After Annette from Leila and Ben offered to give her patterns to whoever wanted to sew one up for Pregnancy Care Centres, here, I took that opportunity to get a free copy of the Sweet Little Dress pattern. (Hurry this offer ends on the 31st of May--tomorrow!)

And, here are the results so far--two Sweet Little Dresses:

 

 

This one is made from some very cute fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop that they sent over our way!

The fabric is Sarah Jane's Children at Play in Summer Garden. It doesn't look like they have anymore left in this colorway but they do in pink!

The white fabric for the sleeves is from some repurposed pillow cases I had in my stash.

 

 

Isn't it sweet--the cute little girls and pretty flowers?!

Perfect for the Sweet Little Dress!

 

 

And, this fabric, I have no idea where it is originally from--I bought it when I first started sewing almost 3 years ago from a lady in town.

 

So, these are added to the Flickr group for Pregnancy Care Centre Sewing.

 

Dress For Myself

A while ago, my husband had taken me fabric shopping at Fabricland so I could sew up some armor for the kids.

Of course, I did come home with more fabric than I had anticipated--I always do. Especially when it is in the clearance section...

I had bought 2.5 meters of this knit fabric in anticipation of sewing myself a dress. I finally got around to it two weeks ago.

 

 

I used an Ottobre pattern for the bodice. It's from Ottobre 2/2009--the Square Tunic. Very simple pattern to sew up--at least the bodice is.

On the original pattern, there is a flaring, drapey piece on both sides of the skirt part. I had not intended on using it and when I started reading the instructions out of curiousity, I was glad I didn't. Maybe if I had cut out those pieces, it would have made sense, but from the actual reading of the instructions, it just seemed too simple to make that look.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the plan for this dress.

 

As I said, I used the square necklined bodice and then just attached my own skirt--a simple tube to the bottom.

It felt a bit like a nightgown--it had not much shape to it. Maybe if I had added that clear elastic tape to the bodice bottom....

But, I ended up making two pleats in the back to gather it. After trying to gather it with elastic and seam ripping that, this seemed the quickest and easiest way to add a bit of 'shape.'

 

 

Of course, I added a tag of ribbon.

I think I've grown attached to the idea of adding tags--it adds a bit of a touch. Especially when it is pretty, silky ribbon. (I know, you can't see it when I wear it but I know it's there.)

 

 

So, that is my first dress for myself. It's super comfy and I think I want to make a tunic top out of the same fabric--wouldn't it be great over jeans?

If I have enough fabric left....

 

So...back to sewing some little dresses--some Sweet Little Dresses to be exact!

Some More Inspiration!

My list is growing of items I'd love to sew for the Pregnancy Care Centres!

 

Again, from Made-by-Rae, the Little Geranium. I was going to add this one last time, but I couldn't find it back--a friend kindly sent me the link! I already had it printed out from when Rae first posted it for free. It's a 0-3 month size exerpt from the actual Geranium Dress (which you can buy.) But, this one is free! Perfect for those little newborns.  

 

 

 

I've posted briefly about this one the other day because I had made two of them.

It is from Small Dream Factory and it is a free pattern for a Envelope Neck Long-Sleeved Tee.

It comes in sizes NB to 2T. It seems to be a European pattern--all the measurements are in centimetres but it is converted to inches for ease of use!

 

A free pattern that was made for charity sewing is the Good Deeds Dress from Elysium Dreams.



Read their blog post here as to why Carisa made this pattern! It comes in sizes 12m to 14!

 

And, from Fishstick Design, two patterns that are not free but that are super cute!

First, The Little One Layette:

 

 

It comes in sizes NB to 12 months.

 

And, The Austin Lee Coverall & Romper:

 

 

Which comes in sizes NB to 4T!

 

I love the layette--it is super cute and looks very comfy!

 

 

 



Some Pregnancy Care Centre Sewing

Here's my business the last two weeks.

I've been getting some sewing in and have a little something to show for it.

 

First off, an Itty Bitty Baby dress from Made-by-Rae.

 

 

The fabric was a gift from a friend over a year ago. I've used it in an outfit for my daughter--both on a pair of pants and a shirt. And, I still have a tiny bit left!

I have no idea where it comes from or what it is called but it is super cute!

I've added a size tag, sewn onto the back lining so the new moms will know when to pull it out.

 

Instead of piping, I used rick-rack. First time using it other than the hats I made for my boys during KCW.

I really like this pattern--it's quick and easy and it is cute. 

 

Next, I made (yes, you're right, you're seeing double) two sets of matching boys clothes.

 

 

The T-shirts are from Small Dream Factory. It is their free Envelope Neck Long Sleeve pattern which comes in sizes NB-2T.

The fabric is a combed cotton interlock in kelly green and in brown or chocolate (I cannot remember). I bought them when I first started sewing almost 3 years ago from Fabric.com.

And, I have used it for a number of projects before, including two shirts last year for my older boys, and another shirt that was made before my blogging days.  

 

The pants pattern is again from Made-by-Rae--the Basic Newborn Pant.

 

Again, I put in tags with the size. I forgot for the shirts, but hopefully they'll stay together as a set, or I'll have to sew a little tag on them yet somehow.  

 

Fabric is some twill that I got from a 2nd-hand store a couple years ago. I managed to squeeze these two out of the left-over fabric. I had used the rest before for some other pants, but I don't think I have blogged about those--it was before my blogging days as well.

 

So, I've added these to the Flickr group.

 I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else will be sewing up!

 

I have a little stack of patterns on my desk that I'll be working on next--one of them being the Sweet Dress from Leila and Ben.

Have you checked out their site and Etsy shop?

And, have you read my last post to learn how to get one of their patterns for free?